This post looks at the fastest times and best performances by the men in the bike leg.
Fastest Times
The 2017 season continued the trend of extremely fast bike legs. Andy Starykowicz continues his push towards the first sub-4 bike leg, his 4:01 from Texas is the fastest bike time in an Ironman – a great comeback from his horrific injuries in 2016. Tim Don’s 4:06 from Brasil is the best bike time by an athlete who went on to win the race.
| Rank | Name | Actual Time | Race |
| 1 | Andrew Starykowicz | 04:01:14 | IM Texas on 2017-04-22 |
| 2 | Tim Don | 04:06:56 | IM Brasil on 2017-05-28 |
| 3 | Andrew Starykowicz | 04:08:19 | IM Louisville on 2017-10-15 |
| 4 | Mike Phillips | 04:09:55 | IM Barcelona on 2017-09-30 |
| 5 | Antony Costes | 04:09:58 | IM Barcelona on 2017-09-30 |
| 6 | Sebastian Kienle | 04:10:48 | IM Cozumel on 2017-11-26 |
| 7 | Kirill Kotshegarov | 04:11:16 | IM Texas on 2017-04-22 |
| 8 | Lionel Sanders | 04:12:03 | IM Arizona on 2017-11-19 |
| 9 | Michael Weiss | 04:12:45 | IM Cozumel on 2017-11-26 |
| 10 | Cameron Wurf | 04:12:54 | IM Hawaii on 2017-10-14 |
Best Performances
The best bike performance was Cameron Wurf’s new bike course record in Kona – it’s pretty unusual that a Kona bike ride shows up in the fastest overall rides (previous section)!
Foto: Cam Wurf leading the bike in Kona. Credit: Ingo Kutsche
Andy Starykowicz has three of the best ten bike performances in 2017 (from Louisville, Texas and Wisconsin), Lionel Sanders has two (from Kona and his win at IM Arizona). It’s interesting to note that Cam Wurf’s 4:57 from IM Wales is the seventh best performance – even if it’s almost an hour slower than Starky’s fastest time in Texas!
| Rank | Name | Normalized Time | Actual Time | Race |
| 1 | Cameron Wurf | 04:17:25 | 04:12:54 | IM Hawaii on 2017-10-14 |
| 2 | Lionel Sanders | 04:18:51 | 04:14:19 | IM Hawaii on 2017-10-14 |
| 3 | Andrew Starykowicz | 04:19:10 | 04:08:19 | IM Louisville on 2017-10-15 |
| 4 | Sebastian Kienle | 04:19:30 | 04:14:57 | IM Hawaii on 2017-10-14 |
| 5 | Andrew Starykowicz | 04:19:46 | 04:01:14 | IM Texas on 2017-04-22 |
| 6 | Tim Don | 04:20:35 | 04:06:56 | IM Brasil on 2017-05-28 |
| 7 | Cameron Wurf | 04:23:54 | 04:57:50 | IM Wales on 2017-09-10 |
| 8 | Andreas Dreitz | 04:24:28 | 04:16:47 | IM Italy on 2017-09-23 |
| 9 | Lionel Sanders | 04:24:54 | 04:12:03 | IM Arizona on 2017-11-19 |
| 10 | Andrew Starykowicz | 04:24:58 | 04:24:08 | IM Wisconsin on 2017-09-10 |
2017 Ratings
With his return to Ironman Racing, Andrew Starykowicz also re-claims the #1 spot in the bike rankings. Even though he has been biking well this season, Sebi has dropped back into second place. With his six(!) Ironman finishes in 2017, Cam Wurf has entered the rankings in third place. Lionel Sanders continues to climb in the rankings, he also had the biggest rating improvement among the top bike riders.
| Rank | Name | Nation | Rating | Last Race | # IM Races |
| 1 (-) | Andrew Starykowicz | USA | 04:22:26 (n/a) | IM Louisville on 2017-10-15 | 9 |
| 2 (1) | Sebastian Kienle | GER | 04:24:29 (-1:49) | IM Cozumel on 2017-11-26 | 16 |
| 3 (-) | Cameron Wurf | AUS | 04:25:55 (n/a) | IM Hawaii on 2017-10-14 | 8 |
| 4 (7) | Lionel Sanders | CAN | 04:28:26 (-3:27) | IM Arizona on 2017-11-19 | 8 |
| 5 (6) | Andi Boecherer | GER | 04:29:29 (-1:54) | IM Germany on 2017-07-09 | 15 |
| 6 (5) | Jan Frodeno | GER | 04:29:34 (-1:31) | IM Hawaii on 2017-10-14 | 9 |
| 7 (2) | Dougal Allan | NZL | 04:31:05 (+0:26) | Challenge Roth on 2017-07-09 | 9 |
| 8 (3) | Michael Weiss | AUT | 04:31:10 (+0:25) | IM Cozumel on 2017-11-26 | 19 |
| 9 (4) | Marino Vanhoenacker | BEL | 04:32:48 (+1:52) | IM Taiwan on 2017-10-01 | 23 |
| 10 (11) | Boris Stein | GER | 04:33:08 (-1:35) | IM Hawaii on 2017-10-14 | 9 |